


7 Deadly sins

by WCTsummer



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Character Development, Demons give advice, Friends In Unlikely Places, Friendship, Healthy Relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-22
Updated: 2019-09-22
Packaged: 2020-10-25 17:13:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20727845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WCTsummer/pseuds/WCTsummer
Summary: In his final years at school, Neville is given Greenhouse 13. He meets and befriends the 7 deadly sins and they each teach him a little bit about being confident.





	7 Deadly sins

The Beginning

̈Oh, Neville dear, I thought you might like your own space to work this year. You ́re doing so well in class and you ́ve done such great things in Greenhouse 3 last year. There is Greenhouse 13 down near the lake. It hasn't been used in years, so be mindful of that.¨ Professor Sprout handed Neville a key, ̈Try not to lose this one. The headmaster has the spare, but I'm not sure he knows where it is.”

¨It's just for me to use?̈ Neville asked, a bit stunned. 

Neville had never thought of himself as very good at anything. He was alright with plants, but not great. He got the feeling that Professor Sprout just encouraged him because she knew he was trash at everything else. 

Still, he wasn't about to turn his nose up at the chance to have a private greenhouse. 

̈Thank you Professor Sprout,”

̈ ̈Now if you need seeds or tools or anything else just grab them from the shed, same as always. I ́m afraid I really have no idea what condition Greenhouse 13 is in. I had hoped to clean it up at bit this summer, but then my sister got sick and someone needed to look after her grandkids.¨

̈That's alright Professor. I ́m happy to clean it up.¨ 

Neville had imagined a greenhouse with a few broken pots and lots of overgrown greenery. 

He had not expected a greenhouse sealed shut with an ominous looking pentagon. There were a lot of precious flowers growing hither and thither, for an unmaintained greenhouse. The Greenhouse looked like a South american jungle. There were overgrown trees, huge vines, birds flying about, and rare, radiant flowers everywhere. Neville wasn't sure there was much room to grow anything new. 

That wasn't what surprised Neville the most. 

That title goes to the seven demons leaning around one of the potting tables playing a game of poker. 

¨You in?¨one of them asked. 

This was too much. Neville turned and fled. 

So much for being a brave gryffindor. 

Gluttony’s Dinner  
After a fortifying sleep and a light breakfast, Neville went back to his greenhouse with a wheelbarrow full of tools. 

Six of the seven demons had disappeared and only one was sitting at the potting table when Neville arrived. 

This demon was dressed in fine silk robes. Her hair cascaded down her back in long glowing green waves. It reminded Neville of the ivy that grew along the castle. 

̈ ̈Hello again,̈ The demon smiled at Neville for a fraction of a second then went back to flipping through a Witches Weekly magazine. 

̈ ̈Hello, I ́m Neville.¨ The boy looked around the greenhouse, ¨I´ll be working here most days now.¨

̈ ̈Company? How wonderful,̈ The demon drawled still not looking up at Neville. 

Feeling like an insignificant weed, Neville went about clearing out broken pots, taking out harmful plants and categorizing what he wanted to keep. 

Neville was just about to pull out a long flowering vine when another demon came flying around the corner screaming and hollering worse than Snape. 

̈ ̈Don ́t touch my Morning Glory you fat faced lump of feces!¨

¨I..I..I...didn't know you wanted it. It's A bit invasive.¨

¨You think I don ́t know that! Touch it again and I'll rip your head off.¨

Neville coward against the ground looking up at the bloodthirsty demon. This Demon was tall with broad shoulders. He was grizzly looking, a bit like Mad eye moody, but he had a feral, cruel smile like professor snape. Neville could even see a bit of the disappointed rage he often saw in his grandmother. 

¨He gets the point Wrath. Come on doll, Gluttony made lunch.¨ The first demon Neville had meet was standing between Wrath and Neville with an air of casual condemnation. 

Neville scrambled up to his feet. ̈ ̈Lunch?¨ He asked bewildered. 

̈ ̈Lunch, boy. Food. It ́ll be something devine I'm sure. If it were Sloth who made lunch, we'd be eating our own tongues. With Gluttony you can be sure it´ll be good. Come on Envy, let's go eat.¨

¨Follow us Neville,̈ Envy said over her shoulder. 

The three wondered around the greenhouse for a long time, longer than made sense given the size of the building, before coming back to the potting table. This time it was laden with food. 

Everyone pulled up a seat  
and started eating. 

Neville stood back and watched with a mix of dread and longing. Had not eaten enough in the morning and he ́d been working all day. The food really did look marvelous, but the seven demons looked terrifying. 

Wrath, in particular, looked like he was teetering on a knife's edge. One wrong word and he ́d rip someone's head off. 

̈Boy- ̈ A massive, blob of a demon started. 

̈Neville. The boy's name is Neville.¨ Envy cut it. She seemed to take offense that the other ́s were all taking an interest in Neville when she had known him first. It made Neville blush a bit.

̈Neville,” Gluttony said, raising two huge arms that were as big and round as trees but as squishy as a slug, ̈Come eat! Come eat! I have made a wonderful meal.΅

̈Sit by me,̈ Envy demanded, ̈She pulled out a stool from under the potting table and waved demandingly for Neville. 

Of the seven demons present, Neville had meet three. He could guess at the others though. 

Neville looked to his right at the demon who was half asleep and eating with his hands. A persistant, ´fuck off, I´ll do as I like´ air hung about him.

¨You must be Sloth.¨ 

Sloth grunted in the affirmative. He sounded a bit like Ron if someone tried to wake him in the morning. 

Sitting across from Neville was a demon dressed in fine clothes and jewelry. Only, unlike Envy, none of this demon ́s outfit matched. It was all very expensive looking but it didn't look very good on him. Neville thought he looked a tad bit like Mr. Malfoy.

¨You must be Greed ̈

The demon grinned, shiny gold teeth flickered in the demon's unwashed mouth. ¨I might be, whatcha pay me for the answer?¨

¨That´s not something you charge for idiot,” Wrath growled, ¨Don´t swindled the fucking kid.¨

Beside Greed were two women demons. The last two in the group. The first was dressed in hardly anything at all. The second was dressed in a prim suit. 

¨You must be Lust and Pride,¨ 

Pride, the demon in the suit, grinned, ̈Absolutely right. Well done! I can't believe you figured it all out. How ́d you know our names?¨

Neville shrugged, still blazing red with embarrassment, ̈You're the seven deadly sins, right? I ́ve heard of you.¨

Pride practically shone with delight, ̈Marvalous, simply marvalous.¨ 

Glutton served himself a fourth plate of food. ̈Eat more, Neville! There is lots of wonderful food to be had.¨ 

Tentatively, Neville gave himself a bit more food. 

Pride beamed, ̈Doesn ́t Glutton just make the best food. He's the absolutely best chef in the world.¨

̈ ̈What's your deal, kid? You one of the snot nosed blubbering morons from Hogwarts?¨

Neville looked up at Wrath, ̈ ̈Yeah … I'm Gryffindor.¨ 

Wrath snorted, ̈You any good at it?¨

̈ ̈Being a student?¨

̈No being a lilac licking pansy. Yes obviously!¨

Neville curled into himself a little and muttered into the table, ̈No ̈

̈ ̈What was that dear?” Lust asked. Her chest was on full display since the little clothing she was wearing seemed to have slipped away. 

Neville went right back to staring at his plate. He repeated what he has said, slightly louder this time.

The demons seemed to think this uproariously funny. They laughed until they cried, big purple demon tears. 

Neville excused himself from the table and slunk back to his work. The demons left him alone from the rest of the day. 

Greed’s Advice

¨How are planning on filling that whole garden bed with only that one little package of seeds?̈ Greed asked.

A month had come and gone and Neville was finally used to the demons hanging around his work. They often interrupted him to take his things or, in Gluttony's case, hand him food. 

Normally Greed only came by to ́borrow ́ tools that Neville never saw again.

̈ ̈Well there are only so many seeds in the shed...̈ Neville started digging long rows of 2 inch deep holes for the seeds.

Sloth grunted. The lazy, unhygienic demon was sprawled like a lump under the tree that shaded the garden bed that Neville was working in. 

Greed pointed a confirming finger at Sloth, ̈xactly ḿa point. There are more than enough seeds in that shed. Take what you need. Don't hold back.¨

̈Professor Sprout and the other independent study students need seeds too.¨

̈Oh but Neville, none of them are as good as you.̈ Pride chooed. She was standing over a silver tub of water fixing her hair in the reflection. 

̈That's A real waste of seeds, boy. What ́a waste of perfectly good, rare, seeds. Don't you think it's a cry ́in shame to let some second rate amature ruin what you could prefect.̈ Greed grinned, ̈And anyways they expire after a year or two. You ́re really doing everyone a favour by taking some of d ́em seeds and growing them up.¨

̈ ̈That's not fair to everyone else,̈ Neville pointed out meekly. He did see the logic in what Greed was saying. Most of the seeds got thrown out at the end of the year if they weren't used. Plus, green house 1 and 2 were hardly used by the independent students. Professor sprout only used the common seeds for classes. 

The rare seeds, unless Snape needed them, went unused most years.

Neville had been eyeing up a package of Whistling Foxgloves since the first day of classes. No one had taken it so far, but Neville didn't want to overstep himself. 

̈That's right boy, stand up for yourself. If ya need it, take it. That's what the supply shed is for.¨

Neville finished planting his seeds. 

̈Fine, Fine. Don't take anything Greed. Pride, I know you are very good at guarding things. Make sure Greed doesn't steal any of my tools.¨

Pride smiled winningly. Her hands pressing down the invisible wrinkles on her suit. 

Neville smiled back. Pride was so easy to manipulate. Neville should feel bad, but Pride seemed to love proving she was the best at things. If that meant proving she was the best at keeping Greed away from Neville's things, all the better. 

A Tour of the Garden’s with Pride

̈Oh Neville, how beautiful!” Pride beamed and Neville lead her through the flower garden. 

Somehow, Greed had convinced Neville to take a fine variety of rare flowering seeds. The Whistling Foxglove was Neville's favourite though. The tall, stocklike flowers were towering giants. They nearly outcompeted the sunflowers in height. Each plant was covered in beautiful, music playing blossoms. There were purple, white and pink. Neville had even managed to grow a very blue looking plant. It wasn ́t as tall, but the colouring was spectacular.

̈Neville you must show Professor Sprout all these flowers. You are so talented. I bet you could get your herbology masters just with this garden alone.¨

Neville flushed, a little embarrassed at Pride ́s praise. ̈ ̈It's nothing.¨

Pride stop working altogether and gave Neville a very stern look. 

Neville scratched the back of his neck, ¨I mean, yeah, thank you. I worked really hard on it. I ́m glad you like my garden.¨

Pride nodded decisively, ̈better. Still need a little work, but you are getting there. Now, what have you sent off to the Herbalist Special?¨

̈ ̈The magazine?” Neville asked surprised.

Pride plucked a beautiful red rose and wove it into her hair. 

¨I look so beautiful with this flower. It matches everything about me. Now, Neville, you must submit at least a few of these wonderful flowers to the Herbalist Special. Once you have been published a couple of times, and you have sorted out your paperwork then you can submit something to the Herbalist Periodical.¨

Neville looked up in alarm.

Before he could voice his discomfort Pride cut him off, ̈Neville, this garden is an inspiration. You would be doing the world a disservice by covering it up. The world needs more beauty. It's what keeps people happy and enjoying life. Do you really want to deprive the good people of Britain all that is good and artistic in the world.¨

¨It's A flower Garden, Pride,̈ Neville laughed. He knew it wasn't all that she claimed it to be. 

She wasn't entirely wrong though. Neville looked around his garden. It was a thing of beauty. 

¨I´ll submit something to the magazine, but leave off about the periodical. I'm not a master Herbalist.¨

Pride cleared her voice expectantly. 

Nevile signed, ̈I am not a Master Herbalist yet.¨

Pride beamed, ̈You are doing so well Neville. You're an absolute joy to know.¨

Neville scratched the back of his neck and muttered a ́you too ́. 

Trees, Coffee, and Sloth 

Someone grunted in exasperation. 

Neville looked up from his pruning. 

Sloth was laying under his favourite tree, resting in the shade. 

̈ ̈What?¨ 

Sloth grunted again. 

Neville stood up and dusted the dust off his jeans, ̈I do not overwork myself. I ́m pruning. That's no work at all.¨

Sloth rolled over, turning away from Neville. 

Neville frowned. He washed his hands and went to sit beside Sloth. He didn't feel stressed or like a busy bee, but maybe Sloth was right. 

Sloth let out a soft sigh. 

Neville entwined his fingers behind his head and layed down. Perhaps Sloth was right, Neville had been working hard for ages, he deserved a little break. 

The sun slipped through the greenhouse glass, down through a break in the canopy and right onto Neville's face. 

It warmed his skin and lulled him into a nap. 

It was several hours later that Neville woke up to the smell of fresh bread and coffee. 

Neville sat up to find Sloth was nibbling on his own plate of food.

Neville took a small piece of warm cinnamon raisin bread and slipped it between his lips. It filled his whole mouth with sugar. Neville closed his eyes and focused on the taste. Cinnamon and cardamom were easy to identify but there was something else that was harder to identify. Maybe it was star anise.

As Neville sipped his coffee he tried to imagine the last time he had felt so relaxed. It had been years, if he’d ever really felt it at all. At home there was his grandmother and great uncle always pestering him. 

Before Hogwarts they were constantly trying to get him to perform accidental magic. One could never tell when the next near death experience would be. 

Once Hogwarts started things were a bit more relaxed but there were still test, quizzes, papers and projects. Not to mention whatever hair brained nonsense the Golden Trio got into or pranks that the twins pulled on the common room. There were always Slytherians to avoids and sometimes dual with. 

None of that was in GreenHouse 13. The most stressful thing here was Pride’s endless request for Neville to enter this or that into the Herbology magazines. Neville didn’t mind that so much though, it made him turn red to think that a demon loved his garden so much. 

Neville loved hearing Pride gush about his garden. 

Neville licked the last of the cinnamon toast of his fingers and laid back down beside sloth. He’d nap for a few more hours while the sun was still up. The papers and plants could wait. 

Never cross Wrath 

Neveille wasn’t sure who he should tell. He felt Madam Pomfrey and Pride would just feel sorry for him. The Golden Trio wouldn’t understand. Hermione might, but it was near exam season and everything else was small beans in Hermione's mind. 

This wasn’t small beans to Neville. This was huge. This was massive. This needed dealing with. 

Obviously the best place to start was in greenhouse 13. Neville didn’t have to go far. Wrath was already waiting for him at the entrance with his own copy of a respectable American Herbology periodical. 

“This fucking isn’t right!” Wrath hollard. Neville scowled. “That two faced son of a Hyppograph stole your research. You trusted him, asked for advice and he stole from you!”

Neville crumpled up his own copy. He was pissed too. He had trusted Master Herbology Ethan Douglas. The professor was from a well respected University in Toronto, Canada. Ethan Douglas had reached out to Neville after Neville had published a short article about his whistling foxgloves. 

Neville had been training the plants to produce tunes rather than just random whistles. Things were progressing nicely but he’s reached a block in his research. Douglas had offered to look into it and give Neville some suggestions. 

Instead Douglas had published Nevilles research as his own.

“I’ll write to the editor.”

“You bloody well will not!” Wrath barked, “This sort of things needs dealing with by the higher up. You are the heir to a well respected wizarding family who runs the best greenhouses in all of magical britain. You will not have your research stolen by some petticoat wearing pansy from Canada.”

Neville stopped. Wrath was right. The Longbottom’s owned the best greenhouses in all of magical Britain. The plants they produced and sold around the world were remarkable, the best in the industry. 

This gave the Longbottom name some levity and it gave Neville some contacts. One of which was a prominent plant supplier in Canada. Another was the CEO of the periodical that Professor Douglas had published in. 

This sort of issue deserved a firecall to the right person. 

This sort of thing deserved a career to end.

The end

Neville stood at the entrance to Greenhouse 13. His Hogwarts years felt like yesterday but ten years had come and gone.

Neville wasn’t the same person anymore. 

For one thing, he was a master Herbologist now, the head of his family and a powerful business man. 

Once, he had feared travelling down unfamiliar halls in Hogwarts, now he travelled all over the globe meeting prominent witches and wizards to buy and sell plants. 

Neville was absolutely certain that, had he not meet the 7 deadly sins, he would have never become who he was. 

Neville pulled out his wand and with a quick series of flicks he vanished the bloody pentagon from the door of Greenhouse 13.


End file.
